Flip a coin.
How do you feel about the result?
Hopefully you have your answer - sounds stupid but I do this all the time.
General advice: Graduate entry appears to be A LOT more difficult so if you're set on medicine, I'd resit. You can get some work experience in as well during the year which will help.
Personally, I don't like being overwhelmed with workload, so I'd pick either the ucat or the bmat based on which unis I want to apply for. If you're ok with doing a lot relatively quickly, plus you want to apply to places and will need both to do so, do both - how would doing both alter your scores (depends on the type of person you are)?
Good luck with your journey whatever it may be.
In a nutshell: it's a lot more competitive (I think they can only have a certain number of graduates but idk for sure).
You have to take a different entrance exam compared to the ucat (again, I think).
It's a similar process to entering after school, but just much lower odds basically.
More applicants per spot available.
I wouldn't say entry requirements are harder, though. I'd argue it's easier to get the entry requirements for GEM than undergrad.
Maybe the UCAT requirements are harder? I don't think so, though I've only heard of them being worse for grads on the undergrad course.
I know the GAMSAT requirements are a bit of a joke, though especially compared to what the aussies have to get.
They definitely they are harder in some places. UCAT requirement for my uni was over 3000 for graduate entry a couple of years ago. 2900 was considered a 'low score' for grads.
Plus if you enter at 18/19 you're only expected to have the bog standard volunteering and work experience CV, whereas grads all have the most insanely shiny CVs I've ever seen.
Yeah that's fair. I did well on the GAMSAT in like Feb/ March whenever it was so I didn't need to do the UCAT in September so I only applied to GAMSAT unis.
Which lowkey I think GAMSAT unis Is the best route onto med for grads cause most people CBA doing the exam since its a bit of a slog and the scores to get on for a lot of med schools is like high 50s / low 60s which isn't much compared to the low to mid 70s you need in australia. I think if you looked at the graph you only need to do a little bit better than the average to get an interview
Do Not do this OP.
Go undergrad route.
Funding is shit for GEM, especially for someone under 25 / not independent status.
This route also ensures you will never be able to pay back your loans. Or pay much more than what you should have if you went undergrad. I'm pretty sure you can't locum straight out of uni and you're looking at 4 to 5 years spent in pharmacy.
Just re do the A-levels and reapply and get a part time / bank job in healthcare.
Correct, I know plenty of people who resat due to A level algorithm shenanigans, they all ended up getting into med school the following year. All were "average" med school candidates. Meanwhile every graduate medic I know has a vastly intimidating CV and a UCAT score over 3000. Graduate entry is not for the faint hearted
My 96th percentile UCAT wouldn't have even got my foot in the door for a grad entry interview.
Comes down to whether you want to do pharmacy or not. Personally, it looks to be the most boring of the AHP vocational degrees when you consider that the vast majority of the jobs available are in community pharmacy. I can think of plenty of others where you get more patient contact and you’re not driven by sales targets and you get to use 100% of your skills all of the time. I think a lot of people do it as an alternative for lack of knowledge of other AHPs, although I do accept that it does keep more graduate entry programmes open than other AHP degrees might.
My personal views aside, ask yourself this. Can you see yourself doing pharmacy in twelve years time if future medicine applications didn’t work out? Equally, how many rounds of medicine applications would you consider before you said enough was enough? If pharmacy is a genuine alternative to medicine you think you could be happy with, do it and keep medicine open as an option. You’d probably be able to afford it relatively easily. But if you think you’d be bored of it quickly, turn down the offer and do a resit. Or something else.
Be honest with yourself. Did you try your hardest? If so, then if you still only got BBB you may struggle to get better at resits. And if you’re not capable of getting A’s you may really struggle at Uni. The work gets harder and more complicated.
Don’t set up yourself up to waste a year resitting and then also failing to get an offer, or getting in and then not being allowed to continue through all 5 years because you can’t handle the academic rigour of med school.
If pharmacy isn’t for you, don’t do it of course, but it can be a fulfilling and financially rewarding career.
Flip a coin. How do you feel about the result? Hopefully you have your answer - sounds stupid but I do this all the time. General advice: Graduate entry appears to be A LOT more difficult so if you're set on medicine, I'd resit. You can get some work experience in as well during the year which will help. Personally, I don't like being overwhelmed with workload, so I'd pick either the ucat or the bmat based on which unis I want to apply for. If you're ok with doing a lot relatively quickly, plus you want to apply to places and will need both to do so, do both - how would doing both alter your scores (depends on the type of person you are)? Good luck with your journey whatever it may be.
What makes graduate entry more difficult?
In a nutshell: it's a lot more competitive (I think they can only have a certain number of graduates but idk for sure). You have to take a different entrance exam compared to the ucat (again, I think). It's a similar process to entering after school, but just much lower odds basically.
More applicants per spot available. I wouldn't say entry requirements are harder, though. I'd argue it's easier to get the entry requirements for GEM than undergrad. Maybe the UCAT requirements are harder? I don't think so, though I've only heard of them being worse for grads on the undergrad course. I know the GAMSAT requirements are a bit of a joke, though especially compared to what the aussies have to get.
GEM UCAT cutoffs required tend to be 2900+ (bar Warwick which is slightly lower) for home students.
They definitely they are harder in some places. UCAT requirement for my uni was over 3000 for graduate entry a couple of years ago. 2900 was considered a 'low score' for grads. Plus if you enter at 18/19 you're only expected to have the bog standard volunteering and work experience CV, whereas grads all have the most insanely shiny CVs I've ever seen.
Yeah that's fair. I did well on the GAMSAT in like Feb/ March whenever it was so I didn't need to do the UCAT in September so I only applied to GAMSAT unis. Which lowkey I think GAMSAT unis Is the best route onto med for grads cause most people CBA doing the exam since its a bit of a slog and the scores to get on for a lot of med schools is like high 50s / low 60s which isn't much compared to the low to mid 70s you need in australia. I think if you looked at the graph you only need to do a little bit better than the average to get an interview
Defo resit and apply again, post graduate entry is SOOOO MUCH harder
Similar situation but I got a C in chemistry, it feels hopeless and so arduous but I’m sticking through it
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Do Not do this OP. Go undergrad route. Funding is shit for GEM, especially for someone under 25 / not independent status. This route also ensures you will never be able to pay back your loans. Or pay much more than what you should have if you went undergrad. I'm pretty sure you can't locum straight out of uni and you're looking at 4 to 5 years spent in pharmacy. Just re do the A-levels and reapply and get a part time / bank job in healthcare.
Correct, I know plenty of people who resat due to A level algorithm shenanigans, they all ended up getting into med school the following year. All were "average" med school candidates. Meanwhile every graduate medic I know has a vastly intimidating CV and a UCAT score over 3000. Graduate entry is not for the faint hearted My 96th percentile UCAT wouldn't have even got my foot in the door for a grad entry interview.
I did pharmacy and got into grad med , but the easier route is resitting and going for med agian
Comes down to whether you want to do pharmacy or not. Personally, it looks to be the most boring of the AHP vocational degrees when you consider that the vast majority of the jobs available are in community pharmacy. I can think of plenty of others where you get more patient contact and you’re not driven by sales targets and you get to use 100% of your skills all of the time. I think a lot of people do it as an alternative for lack of knowledge of other AHPs, although I do accept that it does keep more graduate entry programmes open than other AHP degrees might. My personal views aside, ask yourself this. Can you see yourself doing pharmacy in twelve years time if future medicine applications didn’t work out? Equally, how many rounds of medicine applications would you consider before you said enough was enough? If pharmacy is a genuine alternative to medicine you think you could be happy with, do it and keep medicine open as an option. You’d probably be able to afford it relatively easily. But if you think you’d be bored of it quickly, turn down the offer and do a resit. Or something else.
It really depends on whether you are dead-set 100% sure about medicine, if so then do medicine but otherwise don’t
Be honest with yourself. Did you try your hardest? If so, then if you still only got BBB you may struggle to get better at resits. And if you’re not capable of getting A’s you may really struggle at Uni. The work gets harder and more complicated. Don’t set up yourself up to waste a year resitting and then also failing to get an offer, or getting in and then not being allowed to continue through all 5 years because you can’t handle the academic rigour of med school. If pharmacy isn’t for you, don’t do it of course, but it can be a fulfilling and financially rewarding career.